I love waffles as much as the next person. In fact, nothing hit that little nostalgic hole in my stomach as much as a big, crispy shelled, fluffy centered Belgian waffle. Throw a bunch of fruit, syrup and vanilla whipped cream on top, and you have the makings of a perfect nostalgic childhood brunch. And if you think about it, waffles have the potential to be one of the best energy foods out there. But the thought of carrying a syrupy soaked breakfast pastry in your jersey pocket just doesn't sit well. So what are we supposed to make of the Honey Stinger Waffle then?
Belgium in your pocket
Or more precisely, the Netherlands? Yes, it's true. While the word “waffle” conjures up images of frisbee sized waffles, the Honey Stinger is actually more of a Stroopwafel, which originated in the Netherlands in the late 18th century. So then what's a stroopwafel? Simply translated, it means “syrup waffle” and is made of two wafers of fairly stiff dough baked and sandwiched around a gooey filling, usually a caramel-like syrup. Since they are much more hand friendly then a standard Belgian type waffle, it's about bloody time that someone picked up the idea and ran with it. Honey Stinger did just that, and suddenly, little packages bearing the title “waffle” appeared on store shelves.
Energy Waffle?
Coming in single serving packs, the Stinger waffle is available in two different flavors. Those flavors seem to be varied by the type of filling crammed between the two waffle wafers. Read the packaging and you'll find that each waffle is approximately 30 grams (hefty for its size), and packs in 160 calories. You'll swallow 21 grams of carbs, 55mg of sodium and about 7 grams of fat (3 saturated.) Looking at the ingredient list, you won't find a lot to be offended by: no high fructose corn syrup here. Instead, organic oils and sweeteners are used, creating an energy dense snack that (presumably) won't kill you down the road. And that's a good thing considering how addictively tasty these are.
Sweet, Sweet Stinger
It is so tough to imagine WANTING to eat food created for the sole purpose of powering our workouts. I mean, imagine eating Clif Bars, one after another because they just taste so good. (Really, don't. It's not a pretty thought, unless you're partial to half sawdust/half dried fruit bars.) Don't get me wrong, people love Clif Bars, but after eating them on rides for years, I couldn't stomach them any more.
When these little darlings began to pop up, I saw tweets and Facebook posts of people eating boxes of them. Yes, boxes. I couldn't possibly believe they were that good, so I picked up a few at the LBS for a test run. A few days later, I was back to get a whole bunch more. To put it plainly, these are fantastic. They are about four bites worth of chewy, sweet, syrupy goodness. Easy on the palate, easy going down, and easy digesting is the name of the game here. There's no excessive chewing like energy bars, and there's no fumbling around like shot blocks. In fact, next to gels/gel flasks, these are the easiest thing to swallow on the bike that I've found to date. The vanilla variety is slightly sweeter than the honey variety, but it does harken back to those childhood memories of vanilla whipped cream on top of your Sunday morning waffle. I can certainly see how you could plow through a box of them in a day.
The only downsides I found to these were that being a soft, almost gooey consistency, they didn't hold up well to being stuffed into a jersey pocket along with a wind vest and tool kit. There were about 5 bite size pieces after 40 miles of riding, which isn't bad, but the accompanying crumbs were a bummer. The packages are also exceedingly tough (or well sealed, depending on how you look at it) making them near impossible to open with full finger gloves. The best solution comes with slicing off the top of the package before pocketing it, then just pulling it out and chowing down mid ride.
Overall, Stinger hit the mark true and square with this offering. It's the perfect blend of doughy, sweet, tasty goodness that will fuel you through ride after ride, assuming you can resist stopping at the local waffle house along the way.
Agree or disagree? Tell me what I missed in the comments below:
My favorite energy food, hands down! I’m more partial to the Honey flavor and agree on the crumbliness as a downside. I used them as the only solid food I ingested during my last endurance mtb race, and they were spot on!!
[…] I last posted about Honey Stinger’s energy waffles I’ve been throwing around the idea of making the good old stroopwafels in my own kitchen. […]